Castle trust 'to pay staff when fortunes improve'

Whittington Castle has struggled with financial problems for a number of years

The trust in charge of a Shropshire tourist attraction is trying to find new investors, so it can pay former staff members and a tax bill.

Eleven employees at Whittington Castle, some part-time, lost their jobs in December when the castle tea room closed as it was losing money.

Interim chair of Whittington Castle Preservation Trust, Edward Hamilton-Hill, said some of those staff were still owed redundancy and overtime payments totalling £20,000. The trust also owed £46,000 in VAT, he said.

The Charity Commission is looking at the body's finances but said this did not suggest any wrong-doing.

Trust director Stewart Tan, who was appointed in November as a number of trustees left the board, said they had "inherited a bad position" financially.

He said the aim was to pay staff the money they were owed as soon as the trust could afford it, adding that trustees were in talks with potential investors.

"We don't want to leave people with nothing... we understand people are worried but we're asking for patience", he said.

'No money in the castle'

The public can walk around the ruins but Mr Hamilton-Hill, whose family originally owned the castle, said there had been problems with vandalism. In the future, he said, the trust wanted to put up railings to protect the site.

He said there was "no money in the castle", but once the debts were paid and a third party was found to run the cafe, the trust had big plans to open a farm shop and attract more events to the site, which has links to the Holy Grail and Robin Hood stories.

A Charity Commission spokesperson said: "We have opened a regulatory compliance case into Whittington Castle Preservation Trust and are engaging with the trustees as we seek more information about financial governance concerns."